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Shizuoka Railway A3000 Series / 静岡鉄道A3000形

The A3000 Series (A3000形) is a commuter EMU operated by Shizuoka Railway.

Introduced in 2016 as the successor to the 1000 series, which had been in service for over 40 years. The A3000 Series is based on J-TREC’s ‘sustina’ platform of lightweight stainless-steel body, which is used on several of JR East’s urban commuter trains. It has a non-walkthrough front cab made of ordinary steel, reinforced as a countermeasure against level crossing incidents. The type is installed with modern PID systems and offers free Wi-Fi, displays and announcements are also available in four languages. These features are typically only found in municipal subway vehicles and newer models on major private railways, but the company hoped to attract more ridership from tourists by improving the experience. The interior has a full long seating layout, with a bright modern look composed of white walls and ceiling and blue seat covers. 12 2-car sets were produced totaling 24 cars, with the last set entering service in 2024. It replaced all of the existing 1000 series vehicles and became the only type operated by Shizuoka Railway. 7 sets are painted in a variety of colors ranging from green to pink, while the remaining cars retain the unpainted steel look.

Operator Background:

Shizuoka Railway, often shortened to Shizutetsu, is a minor private railway in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. The company owns and operates a single 11km narrow gauge line from Shin-Shizuoka Station to Shin-Shimizu Station, appropriately named the Shizuoka-Shimizu Line. The line is electrified with 600V DC overhead wires and entirely doubled tracked with a maximum operating speed of 70km/h. Originally built as an interurban line in 1908, the Shizuoka-Shimizu Line has an alignment very similar to the JR Tokaido Main Line, but with a far lower distance between stations, therefore making it more attractive for local travel. Both termini stations are around 500 meters away from JR Stations, and the tracks of the two lines run directly adjacent to each other for a portion of the route. Services on the line are frequent with off peak headways of 8 minutes and up to 11 tph in peak hours, all trains on the line are 2 cars and one man operated. Shizutetsu formerly operated a few other rail and tram lines in the area, but they were all closed by 1975. Although rail is the titular core business of Shizutetsu, in reality it only is only forms a small segment of the company's operations, with real estate and hospitality far surpassing rail in terms of revenue. Per the latest report from FY2024, the Shizuoka-Shimizu Line operates at a small loss, but it is more than offset by profits in other sectors. Ridership from pre-pandemic data is around 16,000 passengers per day.

Basic Information:

Max Speed: 90km/h
Acceleration: 0.83m/s/s
Motor Output: 120kW x 4 per car
Seating: long
In Service: 2016-

The following formations are included:

A3000 Series (2 Car)

Configuration: 1M1T
Max Pax: 258
-can be coupled up to 3 sets